Homoptera

Homoptera is a suborder of order Hemiptera that is considered by some taxonomists to be paraphyletic, and therefore deprecated (obsolete).^[1][2][3] It was therefore split into the suborders Sternorrhyncha, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleorrhyncha.^[4][5] The earlier work was based on nuclear DNA, but more recent phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA suggest that Homoptera may be a monophyletic group after all, a sister group of Heteroptera.^[6] The cause of the disparity in the analyses is suggested to be the long branch attraction effect in phylogenetic analysis, due to rapidly evolving DNA regions.^[6]

The Homoptera include the aphids, scale insects, cicadas, and leafhoppers, which all have sucking mouthparts.

References

1. Dudley R. (2002). The biomechanics of insect flight: Form, function, evolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p 184. ISBN 0-691-09491-8.
2. Von Dohlen, CD; Moran, NA (1995). "Molecular phylogeny of the Homoptera: a paraphyletic taxon" (PDF). Journal of Molecular Evolution. 41 (2): 211–223. doi:10.1007/BF00170675.
3. Gullan, PJ (1999). "Why the taxon Homoptera does not exist" (PDF). Entomologica. 33: 101–104.
4. Schuh, Randall T.; Slater, James Alexander (1995). True bugs of the world (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): classification and natural history. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-8014-2066-5.
5. Cobben, René Hubert (1978). Evolutionary trends in Heteroptera, part 2: mouthpart-structures and feeding strategies. Verslagen van landbouwkundige onderzoekingen, number 707. Wageningen, Netherlands: H. Veenman for Centrum voor Landbouwpublikaties en Landbouwdocumentatie (Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation). p. 7. OCLC 852739989.
6. Song, N.; Liang, A.-P.; Bu, C.-P. (2012). "A Molecular Phylogeny of Hemiptera Inferred from Mitochondrial Genome Sequences". PLoS ONE. 7 (11): e48778. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048778.